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Think cinnamon rolls, but with a simple pie dough instead of a yeast dough and baked in a sweet milky sauce and you’ve got these Southern Butter Rolls!
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Have y’all ever heard of Butter Rolls?
They’re a Southern delight – a cross between a cinnamon roll and pie crust, all baked up in a sweet custard that makes for a decadent butter roll that no one can resist.
While we will compare these to cinnamon rolls, they’re made with pie dough and just lightly sprinkled with cinnamon. They get doused in a sweet milk sauce that thickens up into a custard as it bakes. These are NOT traditional cinnamon rolls, but they’re the closed thing I have to compare them to!
Butter Rolls really are a roll of their own and you’ll want to give them a try to see what I mean! Sweet, saucy, ooey, gooey goodness!
While we haven’t tested this recipe with our homemade biscuits or 7 Up Biscuits, that dough may also work. Might be fun to experiment!
Ingredient Notes:
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For the rolls:
Flour – Just some standard all-purpose flour. The dough for these rolls will end up being a bit more like pie crust or biscuit than a fluffy yeast cinnamon roll.
Butter – You will need two sticks of cold butter for making the dough. Along with that you’ll need one and a half sticks of softened butter that will go on the rolls for baking.
Cinnamon & Sugar – For sprinkling on the dough before rolling it up to bake. You can add more or less of the cinnamon to suit your tastes.
For the milk sauce:
Milk – The base of this sauce is milk, either 2% or whole milk.
Granulated Sugar
What Readers are Saying!
“I can’t stop thinking about these…. I just asked my husband for these to be my Mother’s Day breakfast!!! I. cannot. wait.” – Ashton
Helpful Tools:
Pastry Cutter – It’ll make preparing dough a whole lot simpler.
Measuring Cups & Spoons – Essential for pretty much every baking recipe!
How To Make Butter Rolls:
Dough: To begin you’ll add the flour and salt to a mixing bowl and then use a pastry cutter or a couple of butter knives to start cutting in the cold butter. When it forms into coarse crumbs add the cold water and stir. Use your hands to form it into a dough.
Roll: The dough will need to chill for about 10 minutes in the fridge to make it easier to work with. When it has chilled you can sprinkle your workspace with some flour and roll the dough out into a 12×10 rectangle.
Top: Spread the softened butter evenly over the rolled out rectangle of dough, then start sprinkling on the cinnamon and sugar.
Roll & Cut: Roll the dough up, jelly roll style and cut into 12 equal sized pieces. Place into a 9×13 baking dish.
Milk Sauce: Start by mixing up the milk and sugar in a saucepan and heating it until it just begins to boil. Remove it from the heat and then mix in the vanilla extract. When done, pour it evenly over each of the rolls!
Helpful Tip!
Custard Sauce
It’s going to feel wrong to pour the milk and sugar over the rolls. It’s a thin mixture and you’ll be certain that you’re ruining the rolls, but trust the process and pop these in the oven. The milk sauce bakes up into a creamy custard that the rolls soak up. It really does work!
Bake: Finally you can pop the baking dish into the oven and let it bake uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the rolls have browned. They’ll need to cool a bit but you’ll definitely want to enjoy these while they’re still warm!
FAQs:
Cinnamon rolls are traditionally made with a yeast dough and plenty of brown sugar and cinnamon. Butter rolls are made with a dough similar to biscuits or pie crust. There is only a hint of cinnamon and everything bakes up in a custard. The two are quite different, though they are shaped the same.
We’ve only tested this recipe using the dough here, but readers have left comments saying that store bought pie dough and crescent dough work well.
Store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Rewarm in a low oven before serving.
More Sweet Treats!
- Monkey Bread
- Apple Pie Egg Rolls
- Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- Sprinkle Donut
- Apple Galette
- Cherry Pie Bars
Butter Rolls
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter cold
- 1/2 cup cold water
For the filling:
- 3/4 cup butter room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon more as desired
For the milk sauce:
- 2 cups milk
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
To make the dough:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter.
- When you have coarse crumbs, add the 1/2 cup of water and stir. Use your hands to press the dough together.
- Place dough in fridge for 10 minutes to make it a bit easier to work with.
To fill the dough:
- Generously sprinkle your workspace with flour. Roll the dough out into a 12×10 rectangle.
- Spread the softened butter evenly over the pastry. Sprinkle with the 1/4 cup of sugar and cinnamon.
- Roll up the dough, jelly roll style. Cut into 12 even slices.
- Place in the prepared baking dish.
For the milk sauce:
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk and remaining sugar just until it begins to boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
To bake:
- Pour the milk sauce over the rolls.
- Bake until browned, about 30-40 minutes.
- Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes before serving.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Post updated with new photos June 2022. Original photo below:
Ammie joseph says
thanks for this recipe this was a favorite in our house. My mom would make them as a dessert. I pinned it and printed it.
Karly says
Thanks, Ammie! 🙂
BEVERLY COLEMAN-BLAND says
My granny and her sister, my great aunt, used to make these often. I finally got the recipe, wrote it down as my granny told me ‘a pinch of this and a pinch of that’ (she made it from memory, so could not tell me measurements). I was able to make a version of it from that information, but somehow lost the recipe. Takes me back down memory lane. They are both gone now, so I will have to try these in memory of them. I bet they are delicious!
Karly says
Oh, I hope these are nearly as good as your Granny’s. Nothing quite lives up to memories of grandma’s cooking, but I hope these are close. 🙂
Amy says
My nana made these years ago ?? She rolled hers differently though. She used a small saucer to cut circles, like large biscuits, and then rolled them to look like cigars.
Have you had any luck making the rolls up the day before and then adding the milk sauce when you’re ready to bake?
Karly says
I’ve not tried making them in advance but I can’t see any reason it wouldn’t work fine.
Peggy Baker says
Looks like the ones momma used to make except she had chocolate sauce yum yum. I am going to make them
Debra Lucius says
My Grandmother made these for us when my sister, cousins and I were little. She also added powdered cocoa on occasion to make chocolate butter rolls. My mouth is watering just remembering…..I’ve got to go make some!!!
Karly says
Hope you enjoy!
Jeanette Whitfield says
Whoa mama! These look amazing!!! We will definitely try these soon =)
Thank you
xoxoxo
Janet says
My wonderful Mother-in-Law made these and called them “Stickies.” We almost fought over them when she had a pan full.
Anna says
Are you supposed to share these? I don’t think they’ll make it far from the cooling rack. I only scarfed a piece of a (very) warm one, but I am ready for the rest.
Rita says
My friend Faye makes these, but didn’t have a recipe, just made them the way her mom did. At dinner, the guys take this first, to make sure they get some of it. It’s that good. My own mom even remembers her mom making these. Glad to have a “recipe”.
Karly says
@Rita,
Enjoy! 🙂
Kairie says
My cousin makes these but added cocoa powder to them.
OrahLee says
I’ve gotta tell you all how well these went over at my club pot luck. They were “Ooooooo, mmmmmmm, sho goood” with the fork still in the mouth GOOD! And before the next bite, “I’ve gotta have the recipe!” And I admit to cheating, I used a ugh, refrigerated pie dough instead of the scratch ingredients listed (I am afraid of pie-like dough for some reason).
This hit so manyyummy sensors I couldn’t believe it!!!
I am now a follower!
Shirley says
My mom always made these with extra pie dough. She would make her pie
shell and trim them, any cut off dough was saved till she was done and she would re-roll, spread the butter,sprinkle cinnamon and sugar ,roll and slice,
put them in a pan. Bake them same time as the pies. That was always a treat
for us.
Marilyn Viner says
My mom talked about butter rolls her mom made when mom was a kid. She said they were too good. Her mom knew when she said that that was all that she would eat. Mom said there were only two things that were too good…#1..a rich milk shake, #2..her mom’s Butter Rolls. I’ll have to try them. I wish I wasn’t a diabetic because I believe I could eat the whole pan of them.
Karly says
@Marilyn Viner,
I hope you enjoy them as much as your mom did!
Jo Shabazz says
Yes Crescent roll makes them. Very yummy. Try nutmeg if you don’t like cinnamon. I am an old southern great grandma.
Kim Munroe says
This probably a crazy question-but I don’t do very well with dough making-could you possibly use Crescent Rolls or premade pie dough?? They sound HEAVENLY!!!!